My earliest introduction to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as well as the rest of the Disney animated classics, was through my grandparents. I think before I or any of my cousins were born, my grandma began collecting the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection— the now-iconic video line from the mid-1990s that released the best of Disney’s animated and live-action features on home video.
Whenever we would visit my grandparents, we’d head downstairs and go behind their huge basement bar (another relic from the past) and there would be all the VHS spines lined up where glasses or shakers would have once been. We’d pick one and that would be what we watched that night. I have no clue how many times I watched Snow White during my childhood (I do remember not liking Fantasia though), but those trips to my grandparents no doubt played a major role in crafting me into the Disney fan I am today.
What Snow White Means to Us
I can’t remember the first time I saw Snow White, can anybody really remember at this point? It’s a film that seeps into you from all around the culture. Even watching it the first time might have felt like the 100th time, and the 100th time like the first time. As the film that launched the Disney juggernaut, it’s just something that lives in your bones. You know the dwarves, you know the mirror, you know the casket. The beautiful imagery and the dark fairy tale themes have cemented themselves in the cultural ether, even if the plot itself is lacking in complexity or heft. The simple fairy tale is lofted into the echelon of legend through the sheer force of iconography and its enduring impact on everything that came after.
–Jacob Holmes
With gorgeous hand-drawn animation and a compelling battle between Snow White and her evil stepmother, there’s plenty to love about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Like many old Disney classics, there’s a kind of Mandela effect encircling this film, where on a re-watch (especially when viewing it as an adult) it’s surprising just how much the dwarves feature in this tale, to the extent that this protagonist often feels like a minor character in her own movie. But the dynamic between her and the Queen, the movie’s fairy tale ending, and the haunting yet intriguing image of the Magic Mirror haven’t lost any of their charm almost 90 years after the film’s release.
–Cian McGrath
Walt Disney’s First Full Length Feature Production
There’s a reason the majority of the oldest cartoon characters are animals; it was once a pain to draw humans in animation. While watching Snow White, I was mesmerized by the level of quality on display. While animated movies as a whole have greatly improved, there are still some scenes in Snow White that make me stop and go, “How did they animate that in 1937?” (Yeah, I’m talking about the water ripples in the wishing well Snow White is singing into, so lifelike and realistic I can’t believe it’s not a live-action shot.)
However, while the animals are cartoony and cute, the humans are a bit rough around the edges. They don’t really have noses and their heads more often than not don’t have the lines needed to show the movement around the neck. Of course, for being 1937, this is easily overlookable. In fact, a lot of Snow White falls into the “I’m overlooking this because it’s the first” category. Snow White is essentially a short that has been stretched into an 83-minute feature. Snow White cleaning the dwarfs’ cottage goes on for way longer than it should, as does the dwarfs’ mining song. Yet, that’s part of the movie’s charm. You’re watching history unfold before your very eyes. I’m less interested in what is actually going on onscreen and more invested in how Disney and his team of animators brought this story to life.
They Don’t Make ‘Em Like Walt Disney Anymore
Walt Disney had to fight to get Snow White made, with many expressing concern that audiences wouldn’t have the attention span for an animated film that went longer than seven minutes. However, Walt knew that to grow the business, he needed to go bigger with his animation, so he mortgaged his house to acquire the funds necessary to bring his vision to life. (He also needed to get a bank loan close to the end of production to help get Snow White across the finish line.)
In the end, it was all worth it, as Snow White became a critical and commercial success, cementing Disney as the leader of the animation industry. It’s hard to imagine what the state of the industry might look like if Disney hadn’t risked it all to bring Snow White to the big screen. Would a different studio be known for its animated adaptation of fairy tales and children’s books? Would Disney have been swallowed up by another studio?
With a live-action remake set to hit theaters in just a few weeks, it will be interesting to see how, if at all, the new Snow White expands on this animated classic. The Disney of today is vastly different from the one when Walt was still alive. Walt was a visionary who was constantly looking to one-up his last endeavor instead of resting on his laurels, while Disney today seems content on regurgitating its past successes instead of betting the bank on something risky, like a theme park in the heart of Anaheim. As with most companies that began with good intentions, Disney is now solely devoted to increasing profits, losing the magic that Walt kept close to him throughout his storied career. It’s a tough cookie to swallow as a Disney fan, but I have to remain hopeful that the Walt Disney Company will one day get a CEO who is willing to find the magic again and fund risky, creative projects like the animated Snow White instead of another live-action remake of Snow White.
“We are standing by a wishing well. Make a wish into the well. That’s all you have to do. And if you hear it echoing, your wish will soon come true.”
Are you a Disney fan? Do you have a fun fact, piece of trivia, or analysis about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Please share it in the comments!
